{ "archive_path": "archive/1790804721.089602", "base_url": "newrepublic.com/article/216009", "basename": "216009", "bookmarked_date": "2026-09-30 21:45", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/newrepublic.com/article/216009", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=newrepublic.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "newrepublic.com/article/216009.html" }, "domain": "newrepublic.com", "extension": "", "hash": "1R86J9NH3MM30XJF5J74", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=newrepublic.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:34.964461+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790804721.089602", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:34.290159+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://newrepublic.com/article/216009" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:35.583846+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790804721.089602", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:34.973900+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://newrepublic.com/article/216009" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:47.251196+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790804721.089602", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:43.147937+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmpfr765pwi", "https://newrepublic.com/article/216009" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-10-01T01:35:43.131105+00:00", "index_texts": [ "James Talarico may or may not win the Senate race in Texas. But here\u2019s something we can say right now: Given how close Talarico is coming in this red state after running such an overtly pro-immigrant campaign\u2014which Talarico has done on and off from the outset\u2014it should shape how Democrats handle the immigration issue going forward pretty dramatically.There\u2019s a paradox at the center of Talarico\u2019s spirited bid. He\u2019s running in a state that Donald Trump carried by 14 points in 2024. Yet he\u2019s actually leaned into the moral issues around immigration more aggressively than most other Democrats running in tough areas have this cycle, despite it being widely touted as Trump\u2019s \u201cstrength.\u201d Democrats can learn from this\u2014and not in the ways they might think.Last week, during extended remarks in Austin, Talarico seized on the news that ICE shot a local Venezuelan immigrant in the back\u2014he\u2019s now in detention\u2014to make an expansive moral case that immigration is good for our country. He called for \u201cmore legal pathways\u201d for immigrants to come here and \u201clive the American dream,\u201d which he said would make our country \u201cricher and stronger.\u201dIn those remarks, Talarico called for those broadened legal pathways on top of a path to citizenship for longtime undocumented residents and increased border security. In short, Talarico called for more legal immigration, said this would benefit our country, and even declared: \u201cI think most Texans support all of those goals.\u201dLurking behind this declaration\u2014that a majority of Texans support all those things\u2014is a genuine theory of the case. It\u2019s that Trump\u2019s agenda\u2014the masked ICE thugs snatching grandmas and children, the killings of U.S. citizens, the overt white nationalism in official government communications\u2014has opened the door to creating a new pro-immigrant consensus, even in a place Trump won overwhelmingly. By delivering such a message in Texas so frontally, Talarico is already on the road to accomplishing something potentially seismic.Here\u2019s why. After Trump\u2019s 2024 victory, some observers suggested his gains among Hispanics in the Latino-heavy Rio Grande Valley, along the Mexican border, suggested he\u2019d forged a new, multiracial working-class coalition. In that narrative, even Latino U.S. citizens were gravitating toward Trump\u2019s anti-immigrant restrictionism, in a durable realignment that would change U.S. politics. But now that dream seems to be coming apart. This is very visible in the Texas Senate race, where Trump is badly alienating Latinos\u2014mostly because of the economy but also due to immigration\u2014and leading them to support Talarico.I\u2019ve obtained new data that drives the point home. In August, Texas Southern University polled three competitive House districts in Texas\u2014the 15th, 28th, and 34th. These Latino-heavy districts, which abut the border\u2019s southernmost portions, all swung hard toward Trump, heavily driving the \u201crealignment\u201d narrative. Yet the poll found the Democratic challenger leading the GOP incumbent in the 15th by five points and the Democratic incumbents leading their GOP challengers in the 28th and 34th by 11 and three points, respectively.Here\u2019s where it gets interesting. I asked for the survey\u2019s breakdown of how Latinos in the districts view Trump on these issues. The answer: In Texas\u2019s 15th, only 36 percent of Latinos approve of Trump on immigration and border security, while 61 percent disapprove\u201425 points underwater. In the 28th, that\u2019s 36\u201360, or 24 points underwater. And in the 34th, that\u2019s 36\u201362, or 26 points underwater.\u201cThey thought they were getting a secure border and public safety, not the deportation of friends, co-workers, fellow parishioners, and relatives,\u201d Mark Jones, who co-directs the Texas Southern University poll, told me, speaking about Texas Latinos.Talarico\u2019s campaign sees the Rio Grande Valley as critical. He rolled out his immigration plan there, and he\u2019s done around a dozen events in the region. The region\u2019s turn against Trump helps explain why Talarico\u2019s getting around 60 percent support from Latinos statewide\u2014a huge turnaround from 2024, when Trump won 55 percent of them.In one sense, these numbers are not good enough. Political consultant Mike Madrid, an expert on the Latino vote, argues that this might not be happening without the bad economy. He notes that Trump\u2019s ability to still reach the mid-30s with Latinos on immigration\u2014despite all he\u2019s done\u2014suggests Democrats must do more to turn them into a pro-Dem voting bloc, rather than a swing constituency. But this also suggests a big opening. Trump has thrown away his 2024 gains with these voters, meaning Democrats can try to seal the deal long-term. In redder areas, they can lead with the economy and border security, and pair that with a welcoming message for immigrants, which is now sellable even in red areas due to Trump\u2019s savage inhumanity. \u201cDemocrats have been given a golden opportunity, a second chance to reconstitute a working-class coalition,\u201d Madrid says.It should also be acknowledged that one reason for Talarico\u2019s gains is likely that Talarico has distanced himself from Joe Biden\u2019s immigration record, repeatedly declaring that Biden failed on the border. Talarico\u2019s plan is also heavy on adding border security. \u201cThat\u2019s where the conversation begins,\u201d Madrid notes. Talarico alludes to this himself with one of his frequent formulations: \u201cOur border should be like a front porch\u2014it should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.\u201d The \u201clock\u201d is important. But let\u2019s not neglect the \u201cwelcome mat\u201d part. After all, Talarico\u2019s plan calls for ICE to deprioritize the removals of longtime undocumented residents while focusing on dangerous criminals. It calls for a path to citizenship for many undocumented groups, though it\u2019s not the large-scale amnesty that Senate Democrats passed in 2013 (which the GOP House killed). It would create new legal pathways for immigrants to come here and work. It would maintain channels for asylum-seekers and refugees while calling for more judges to adjudicate such claims faster.It\u2019s hard to evaluate this without more details. Would it mean going back to Biden-era levels of refugee admission? A resumption of Temporary Protected Status for groups facing horrific home-country conditions, which Trump has largely killed? Tougher standards for achieving asylum here than under previous Democratic presidents? Talarico\u2019s campaign has not elaborated.But in its broad strokes, this is a humane, pro-immigrant agenda. Talarico\u2019s baseline values hold that immigration is good, it enriches our country in innumerable ways, and we should facilitate and encourage it, including among those seeking humanitarian sojourn here. True, if there is space for this message to resonate now, it may be because Trump mostly closed down the border, creating the impression that undocumented immigration has been \u201csolved.\u201d Which might mean that in difficult territory, Democrats now have to convey\u2014as Talarico does\u2014that they won\u2019t allow a reversion to the Biden-era status quo ante. Explaining how to accomplish this while rebuilding a far more humane system is a genuinely difficult challenge.But still, the ingredients are coming together for a big Democratic reset. \u201cMost Americans are pro-immigrant,\u201d Talarico said during the Austin event. \u201cThroughout American history, immigrants have always made us richer and stronger.\u201d He rejected the idea that \u201cyou\u2019ve got to pick between security and welcoming the stranger,\u201d stressing: \u201cWe don\u2019t have to pick between those things.\u201dTalarico, who regularly speaks about his faith, is consciously using biblical language here. The duty to \u201cwelcome the stranger\u201d is deeply felt in American life, as Bill Kristol has argued, and not just as a religious duty. The suffering and injustice borne by the immigrants all around us\u2014our \u201cneighbors,\u201d as Talarico put it\u2014have become crushingly omnipresent facts of life as the banal cruelties of Late Stage Trumpism relentlessly grind us down. But win or lose, Talarico has already demonstrated that even in deep-red Texas, people want something higher, something better. We all do. Democrats: Don\u2019t hold back. 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